eathe cleaner air, and even take on climate change... would you press it? buckle up for $3.5 trillion spending bill from senate democrats. new details to be unveiled today. this as inflation concerns rocket across america with rising costs on everything from cars to milk, gasoline, and more president biden leading the charge to protect voting rights as texas republicans are pushing for reforms. employers forced to drop restrictions on marijuana for workers. times are changing and companies are forced to keep up. jobs, jobs, jobs postings by the millions where are the workers and why

are companies having such a hard time hiring? plus, our lester holt on the most inspiring story of the day. co-workers with a life-saving coincidence. "early today" starts right now glad you're with us this morning. i'm frances rivera >> and i'm phillip mena. breaking overnight, call it a new new deal senate democrats are laying out a road map to rethink infrastructure but it wouldn't come cheap last night party leaders unveiled their $3.5 trillion reconciliation plan to bolster the country's social safety net. nbc's tracie potts joins us now with more. tracie, good morning president biden will get a firsthand look at that proposal today. >> right this is going to be a plan that the president takes a look at today at lunch he's headed to capitol hill to talk to democrats and then back to the white house to meet with governors and mayors to try to get their buy-in on infrastructure take a look, this new democratic priority plan unveiled overnight

would include expanding medicare to include dental, vision, and hearing coverage it would include more money for clean energy programs and promises not to tax people and businesses who make under $400,000 a year. the pay for, that has been a big concern for republicans on both the traditional bipartisan plan and this one, how do you pay for all of this? democrats say it is sorely needed and it will be a huge investment to help families. >> this is in our view a pivotal moment in american history wealthy and corporations are going to start paying their fair share of taxes so that we can protect the working families infrastructure >> if we pass this, this is the most profound change to help american families in generations. >> now we could actually see some back and forth between liberals and progressives within the democratic party on this

we'll get more details about what's included in this new larger human infrastructure plan as democrats call it later today. >> quite ambitious tracie potts leading us off. tracie, thank you. more severe weather is expected this week this comes after pennsylvania was hit with what's being called a 100-year flood scientists are increasingly pointing to climate change as a major factor in weather events like this. >> reporter: in the northeast, freak flooding in a matter of hours parts of pennsylvania dowsed with up to 11 inches of rain. residents forced to flee their homes. meanwhile out west, historic heat with region's largest fire still only 0% contained. after four days of explosive growth, smoke from that fire in oregon now clouding the skies over utah. extreme conditions leading to extreme concern as scientists say climate change shows no signs of slowing its deadly rampage. >> scientists have predicted

this for the last 70 years but it's actually happening more quickly and it's more intense than we realized >> reporter: so far this year,nn weather disasters from the deadly texas freeze in february to the heat wave that hit the pacific northwest, killing more than 200 and devastating the coast line with hundreds of millions of muscles literally cooked alive an event so extreme, scientists now say it would've been virtually impossible without human-caused climate change. severe heat is drying out the west with reservoirs reaching new lows the parched conditions now fueling infernos across the region, making the fires bigger and more destructive 2020 was a record fire season for california, but with more than twice as much scorched earth compared to this same time last year, a record already on track to be broken across the west extreme heat continues to threaten 10 million americans, and officials are

asking californians to cut down their water use by 15% >> thanks to erin for that report everything is bigger in texas including the battle over the ballot box republicans in the lonestar state are calling for the arrest of democrats who fled to washington, d.c. to block the passage of restrictive new voting laws. nbc's chris pollone has the latest >> reporter: more than 50 texas state representatives spent the day at the capitol, not in austin but in washington, denying texas republicans a quorum and a chance to pass tough new voting laws components contend it will make it harder for minorities to vote in the lonestar state >> we are not going to buckle to the big lie in the state of texas. >> reporter: republicans voted to order the wayward democrats back to the state capitol. >> once they step back into the state of texas they will be arrested and brought to the texas capitol and we will be conducting business. >> reporter: critics are signaling out new i.d. requirements for mail-in voting and 24-hour and drive-in voting.

texas democrats can't stop the changes and are looking to washington where kong yes is wrestling with national voting rights legislation >> we are so hopeful that congress will hear us and step up to the plate to do something that they may only have the power to do. >> the big lie is just that, a big lie. >> reporter: it comes as president biden issued his most forceful warning about new voting restrictions passed in at least 17 states. >> the denialof full and free fair elections is the most unamerican thing that any of us can imagine, the most undemocratic, the most unpatriotic and sadly not unprecedented. >> reporter: the president has been facing increasing democratic pressure to be more vocal about voting rights since his party doesn't have enough votes to pass voting rights protections on their own after several days of unrest in cuba, the country has beefed up security. state-run media reporting one person was killed and several protesters were injured during

the clashes. meanwhile, in miami, demonstrators blocked traffic with cuban-americans fighting for family members on the island who cannot cubans are grappling with dire food and medical shortages, rising covid cases, and a communist dictatorship that is cutting off the state internet arrests continue in the wake of the january 6th insurrection here in the u.s. on tuesday five members of the same texas family join the more than 500 other defendants the justice department used extensive social media posts from tom munn and many of his family members as evidence and three of the children's former teachers helped identify them to the fbi. the munns are each charged with federal crimes including disorderly conduct the federal law banning handgun sales to licensed dealers to anyone under 21 violates the second amendment. the fourth circuit court of appeals declared it invalid. it was signed by president

lyndon johnson in 1968 while it bans handgun sales to 18 to 21-year-olds, it allows them to buy rifles and shotguns. the ruling applies only in five states, virginia, maryland, west virginia, north and south carolina the decision is likely to be appealed and could eventually reach the supreme court. california has agreed to pay $7.5 million in reparations to people who were forcibly sterilized under the state's old eugenics law more than 20,000 people were sterilized against their will between 1909 and 1979. a fund will compensate the 600 surviving victims with $25,000 each more than 500 employees at the frito-lay plant in topeka, kansas, have been on broke for over a week after rejecting a contract offer from the company. workers are citing low wages and 84-hour work weeks some say they have been forced to work 24-hour shifts let's get a first check of

your wednesday weather with nbc meteorologist janessa webb hi, janessa, good morning. >> hi, good morning. good morning, everyone we are seeing some relief for the pacific northwest and to the west coast today, finally these heat alerts have expired and dealing with flash flood watches. we'll talk about that a little bit later. but we want to talk about this severe weather threat that's making its way across the upper midwest. the flash flood concern and severe weather throughout the day going to be impacting 22 million people the primary threats will be damaging wind gusts, large hail, and a few tornados throughout your afternoon into your evening. this is a very saturated area. don't need to see much more rain temperatures starting to heat up

throughout the northwest pacific northwest you're cooling off. desert southwest now dealing with flash flood concerns. we'll talk about that coming up. >> all right, janessa, we'll talk to you then just unrelenting how abt this there's an ominous new prediction from nasa this morning. sorry to tell you, but the space agency is warning that a wobble in the moon's orbit along with rising sea levels will cause a decade of record flooding among every coast. it is a naturally occurring phenomenon it happens about every 18 1/2 years and it does result in changing tides do you happen to live in one of the most stressed out cities or one of the least? we've got the new list plus, what are the oddofs lightning striking a golf ball moving at 88 miles per hour? ♪yeah, yeah, yeah♪ doing something good for yourself has never been this easy. just do what's delicious. kellogg's special k.

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previously, she and then vice president joe biden led the u.s. delegation at the 2010 winter games in vancouver the first lady will attend the tokyo games without the president. after a yearlong postponement, the olympics will open july 23rd with no fans in the stands in the wake of a state of emergency declared due to the pandemic nbc universal, the parent company of nbc news, owns the u.s. broadcasting rights to the games. the lgbtq+ community will be represented in record numbers at the tokyo olympics according to a report compiled by outsports, 121 openly queer athletes will be competing this year and team usa leads with the most openly lgbtq+ athletes at 30 according to the outlet, queer athletes from at least 25 countries will compete in 26 different sports this year's total has more than doubled the 2016 rio games and more than the 2012 london olympics now to our networkwide series "red, white & green."

it's leading to major changes in the workplace. good morning, jake >> reporter: good morning, frances. it's been a bedrock principle of american business that you drug screen everybody before offering them a job but now with national attitudes and laws changing about marijuana, that's changing at the workplace as well. car part manufacturer al had a problem. the michigan-based plant was suffering from a labor shortage. >> we're working a lot of overtime people are working seven days a week at some of our plants because we don't have enough people to run the lines. >> reporter: so head of hr went to her boss with a radical idea, quit screening applicants for marijuana use. >> it's legal, people can use it, there's medical benefits to it so why penalize people that could be very, very good workers for their usage outside of work? >> reporter: as word got out, the applications rolled in the facility went from one application a week to six. >> it's important to note that

the quality of the cdc hasn't decreased by any means we're continuing to receive qualified cdcs it's been a really positive change for us. >> reporter: this isn't some one-off experiment across the country companies are doing away with marijuana screening to expand the pool of potential applicants the nation's second largest employer amazon leading the way. they stopped screening employees for weed usage last month. while 19 states have legalized recreational marijuana, each one has different laws regarding employee protections in colorado and california, weed is legal, but employees can still be fired for using it outside of work. back in michigan, plant manager dave wells' top priority is safety, but he doesn't see weakened activity as a riz >> does it make a difference to you whether someone enjoys a beer in their off time or enjoys a little marijuana in their off time >> no, it doesn't. what they do on their own time i

really don't care. >> reporter: it's an attitude more employers are taking with competition fiercer than ever for good talent. now, frances, the department of health and human services estimates that more than 22 million people use marijuana a month. and that's probably a conservative figure. when you think about just how many people have been excluded from the job market because of this sort of testing and the fact that traditional employers are waiving that requirement a lot of people may be able to enter the job market that haven't held back. frances? >> thank you coming up on "early today," a new study shows where wits end, the most stressed out cities in the country. and not many people were screening for this we have the scoop on the new mac & cheese ice cream just sanitize and stop. microban 24 keeps killing bacteria for 24 hours. spray on hard surfaces to kill 99% of viruses and bacteria initially, including the covid-19 virus.

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breathe cleaner air,. would you press it? there is no denying that the covid-19 pandemic has been stressful on all of us but there are some places in the u.s. that have had a more difficult time this according to a new study by wallet hub which ranked 2021's most and least stressed cities compared to 180 cities cleveland is the most stressed city followed by detroit, new orleans, baltimore and newark. and the top five least stressed cities were columbia and maryland followed by nashua, new hampshire, madison, wisconsin, fremont, california, with south burlington, vermont, taking the crown for the least stressed

city >> and no coincidence that i think the smaller cities had less stress. i'm talking about everyday pocketbook issues with almost everything we're buying nowadays costing more here's with the details is cnbc's steve sedgwick. hey, steve, good morning >> very good morning, frances. real pressure going to be on jay powell, the chair of the federal reserve when he explains to politicians how inflationary pressures are transitory today because that's been the mantra from the fed as well these numbers are the biggest we've seen since 2008. cpi consumer price inflation was up 5.4% year on year everything we use, used car and truck prices up 45% year on year, truck rental up over 80% year on year, airfare, lodging motels and hotels up around 17%. but the feds still maintaining these price pressures are transitory it's not going to be long term elsewhere, good news on the job

front. according to people ready, they said job postings have surged by millions nearly 5 million jobs have been posted in the last month 1 million in the last seven days alone. food and beverage, catering services and stock room jobs are really popular now, frances and phillip, i did not know it was mac & cheese day in the united states so happy mac & cheese day. and to celebrate brooklyn-based brand van leeuwen has teamed up with mac & cheese ice cream. i like mac & cheese and i love ice cream, but mac & cheese ice cream? maybe i should give it a go and not be judgmental beforehand back to you both >> more power to you at lease you're going to try it. i think i'll pass on that one. >> cheesecake ice cream of course but mac & cheese, i got to keep them separate. still to come, janessa has the latest on active flash flooding threats and we have an electrifying shot of the day that will wake you up wh ita jolt we'll be right back.

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febreze car. la, la, la, la, la in today's shot of the day, a golfer at a san antonio driving range hit an electrifying shot when lightning struck his ball in midair during that storm the volt jolted him back in surprise when the video is slowed down, you can see the moment the lightning bolt hits the ball moving at an estimated 88 miles per hour no one was hurt, but it is astounding that they are out there. we were just talking about that during the storm we can't even see anything the storm is so bad. >> that was dangerous for them to have even been out there. i can just imagine the sound of the thunder simultaneously

hitting, just jolting. they're lucky they got away with that right now to a match that had just about the same odds as being struck by lightning. two women who discovered they had exactly what was needed to help save each other's husband lester holt joins us now with a remarkable story >> this is an incredible story about coincidence and compatibility that brought two co-workers and their families closer than they ever could've imagined for co-workers tia and susan, one conversation last summer changed their lives. both of their husbands had been dealing with kidney failure and were in need of transplants. tia had an idea. >> i asked, well, what's his blood type and she told me that it was o negative and i thought, well, what do you know i'm o positive, i think that could match. so my next natural question was, well, what's your blood type and she said that it was a positive and i was thinking rod is a positive.

>> they decided to each donate their own kidney to the other's spouse >> i wish i could tell you it was this really gut-wrenching decision that we had to ponder over there was no hesitation or doubt or any trepidation whatsoever. >> now, several months and two kidney transplants later, all four are doing well. both men with a second chance at life >> the culmination of susan and tia, i mean, you got to look at it one way they saved my life, and they also saved rodney's life >> being able to actually be with my family and actually enjoy it, actually feel well enough to enjoy it, i mean, it's definitely exciting. >> reporter: all four of them proved that a connection can change a life. >> we all have that quiet voice that's nudging us sometimes to help somebody else answer it. >> and a thanks to lester for sharing that story

those types of stories always hit close to home for me my dad's been waiting for years for a kidney transplant. >> i believe that's more than a coincidence. they were meant to be literally part of each other'sinrventionte

right now at 4:30, south bay, a deadly crash shutting down a major artery. the alert for your morning commute. plus -- >> experiencing an in-flight emergency. >> a deadly plane crash. a family in the bay area, the home destroyed after that plane crashed into their monterey home. where will the oakland a's play? a proposed stadium. this is "today in the bay." here we go. wednesday morning why thank you so much for starting with us. it is 4:30. >> first we want to start with th